Nvidia's GPUs are considered second to none in the enthusiast PC space, and there are plenty of convincing reasons to go with Team Green for your next build. I highlighted a few of those reasons to consider an Nvidia GPU over an AMD one recently, going over things like DLSS and the raw performance of RTX GPUs. AMD graphics cards, however, have also come a long way, and they aren't trailing too far behind in 2023.

In fact, there are some good reasons to consider them over Nvidia's options, and I certainly won't count them out of the race. If you are in the market to buy a new graphics card and are split between AMD and Nvidia, then here are a few reasons why you should consider an AMD GPU for your build.

1 More value for money

I wouldn't necessarily call AMD GPUs — or pretty much any GPU for that matter — cheap, but they're certainly cheaper than Nvidia's offerings. AMD GPUs reign supreme when viewed from a price-to-performance perspective, and it's not even close. The Radeon RX 7900 XTX, for instance, undercuts its closest competition from Nvidia, the RTX 4080, by $200. In fact, the RX 7900 XTX has the same amount of VRAM as the RTX 4090, but it costs $600 less.

Similar comparisons can be made in the budget and mid-range segment, where you'll fetch better value with an AMD GPU. The RX 6650 XT is an excellent value pick for those looking for a GPU that costs less than $250 in the U.S. The same is true for the RX 6600. In fact, our collection of the best budget GPUs in 2023 is mostly populated by AMD's offerings, which goes to show that you really need to ride the AMD wave to get the best bang for your buck while shopping for a GPU in 2023.

I hope to see some well-priced GPUs from Nvidia in 2024, but it seems highly unlikely, considering its outrageous pricing strategy this generation. Long story short, AMD GPUs are cheaper than their Nvidia counterparts this generation, and the price difference is often enough to cover a huge chunk for your other PC parts like an SSD or a motherboard. The performance gap is also not as wide as it used to be, as AMD GPUs have greatly improved. The company is also constantly working to improve the experience for gamers with upscaling technologies like FSR and Fluid Motion Frames.

2 More video memory (VRAM) for the price

I briefly touched on this while highlighting the RX 7900 XTX in the pricing section above, but I believe the AMD GPUs deserve a special mention in the VRAM department. You can also view this as an extension of the price-to-performance conversation, but it's high time we acknowledge the fact that AMD GPUs offer more VRAM than their similarly priced Nvidia counterparts.

The RTX 4090 with 24GB VRAM costs $1,600, whereas AMD's RX 7900 XTX will give you the same amount of VRAM for around $600 less. Our Radeon RX 7900 XTX vs Nvidia RTX 4090 comparison will tell you that there's more to the RTX 4090 that makes it more ferocious, but it's a good example to show how AMD is winning the VRAM battle big time here, as it has been for quite some time now.

The RTX 4080 with 16GB of VRAM costs $1,200 today, whereas you can get the same amount of VRAM for far less when you choose to go with Team Red. The Radeon RX 7900 XT is arguably a better deal than the RTX 4080 as you get very similar performance and more VRAM for less. In fact, you can get an RX 6800 with 16GB of memory for a fraction of the price to beat the RTX 4080 if you pay heed to more video memory.

Yes, there's no need to stuff an excess of VRAM on a relatively less powerful GPU, as we mentioned in our VRAM explainer, but I believe the $800 RTX 4070 Ti could definitely use more than 12GB VRAM. In fact, AMD brings more VRAM to the table almost all the time when you compare its GPUs with a similarly specced offering from Nvidia.

VRAM is more important than ever in gaming now as we continue to get more demanding titles with bigger and better worlds with more details and more ray-traced elements. It's also equally important as you move up the resolution ladder and want to take advantage of the newer gaming monitors out there. Of course, how much VRAM you need entirely depends on your system's appetite for it based on the tasks you throw at it, but there is no denying that AMD is the way to go if you belong to "the more, the merrier" club, and if you use applications that demand more VRAM.

3 Diminishing returns in upscaling technologies

It's true that Nvidia's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) upscaling technology is better and more capable than AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) at the moment. But we've reached a point where the difference in performance between FSR and DLSS isn't as significant as it used to be. Having tested the latest iterations of both DLSS and FSR, I can safely say that they both do a commendable job of upscaling, delivering clean visuals for the most part with higher frames on the board. Here's how much of an improvement I could see while comparing DLSS and FSR in Forspoken, which is one of the two titles that support AMD's FSR 3:

Both technologies also support frame generation, which uses AI to interpolate a fake/generated frame between two original frames for smoother gameplay at high FPS. Yes, Nvidia's DLSS technology is more widely used and cleans up the frames well for a better presentation overall, but AMD's technology has also caught up and is constantly improving, meaning we're likely to see diminishing returns from here on out.

I would also like to point out that Nvidia's DLSS 3.0 with Frame Generation is compatible only with its current 40-series cards. AMD's FSR 3.0, on the other hand, works with Radeon 5000 series GPUs and above. The fact that your one or two-year-old Nvidia GPU is already looking down on you with a lack of support makes AMD's offering more appealing.

Closing thoughts

A GPU is not only one of the most important components of a PC, but it's also among the most expensive ones. That's exactly why you should explore all the options and consider only the ones that would last you for at least a few years. AMD has some great GPUs out there that are very easy to recommend right now. They're relatively cheaper, perform well while maintaining power efficiency, and are more readily available than their Nvidia counterparts in the U.S. You can even consider buying the last-generation AMD GPUs that stack up well against the current-gen GPUs at a lower price.

It's very easy to get lost with all the options out there as we're spoiled for choices now after the GPU shortage, but it's hard to go wrong with either of them. So feel free to pick the ones you like and those that suit your needs and budget. Don't forget to stop by our collection of the best gaming GPUs in case you want any help choosing the right card for your build.